Utterly Charming Charlie
by ThaliaKitten
Summary: Charlie Weasley always thought it was better to love and lose then never love at all, and boy, did he do a good job of that. Meet the many loves of his life.


The Devil

Charlie was falling, he knew. One look at her magnificent red hair, coal-black eyes and fine figure and he was half-struck by love. One quick, terrified glance at the wand-less magic radiating from her fingertips and felling entire swaths of trees told him he better watch out or he would be struck by a curse. Either way, he was falling because of this gorgeous creäture.

The beauty, noticing she was the object of attention, turned away from her objects of mass destruction and focused her shining eyes on him. Charlie felt a whoosh of magic flow through him. His knees felt weak, but it could be that this wonder woman seemed as interested in him. Dammit, why couldn't he like nice girls?

"You're like a fiery goddess," he said to her, staring back at her with equal intensity. The light from the burning trees flickered behind her, her magic holding the fire in check. It bathed them both in a red aura. His knees locked into place and tried to stand tall.

"Fiery devil, more like it," she said with a grin and a chuckle. Her voice was low and throaty, like an old movie siren. She spoke English, which surprised him.

"So you were trying to put the Imperius Curse on me," Charlie said, delighted it didn't work, although he was unaware any Death Eaters looked this good, or traveled so far from England. "You are the devil?" He didn't really believe that last part.

"The Imperius Curse, or something like that. Whatever you want to call it is fine," she replied with a shrug. "It didn't work yet, did it? And I'm a devil, not the devil. But you can call me Carmen."

"Why are you destroying the trees, Carmen?" Charlie asked her, believing more and more of her devilry and wondering why he was still standing. "This is one of the last natural habitats available to the Chinese Fireball dragon." It was also the reason Charlie was on the other side of the world. Having returned from Egypt with a Voldemort-shaped chip on his shoulder, he felt it was best to get away for a while and calm his thoughts down. When his supervisor at the dragon preserve mentioned the Fireball job, Charlie jumped at the chance to move as far away from Death Eaters as possible. Even his beautiful Romania wasn't safe. It was best for everyone, really. He hadn't seen Ginny in a few years, so she seemed okay, but he had no qualms being furious on her behalf. It made him feel better for not being more present in her life. He focused his gaze on the redhead in front of him. She couldn't control him, at least unless he wanted it.

"It's also one of the last healthy forests available to the people of Wuhan for fresh oxygen and nature. I get rid of this, I make millions of people sick and unhealthy and grouchy. Makes the devil's job a lot easier in the end," she said matter-of-fact.

"So you are a horsewoman of the apocalypse?" He grinned at her, attempting to disarm her with humor. Maybe not the best potential dating material, but he could hopefully get out of this with his scalp intact. "Prepping the souls of innocents for their eventual downfall? One who dances with dragons?"

"A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do," she said in a surprisingly good American accent. She stepped closer and traced her finger on his chest. "You haven't told me your name, man-who-fights-dragons."

"It's Charlie," he said, potentially risking limb and life as he took her hand from his chest and kissed it. Screw it, she would have killed him by now and she couldn't be any worse than some of his other dates. "I don't fight dragons, I protect them."

Carmen gave a little shiver. "I see you like to play with fire, Charlie," she said.

"I'm here, trooping on dragon nesting grounds, a dragon that particularly likes humans for dinner, and now asking a devil on a date," he said with a raised eyebrow. "Isn't it obvious?"

"A date?" She laughed again, sending shivers up his spine. "It's not like the two of us can walk into a bar here." She curled a lock of her red hair around her finger and gestured to his own similar mane.

"You mean red-heads in China aren't common?" He replied with a look of mock surprise. "Come to my tent and I'll fix you a drink. No funny business." He held up his hands, wand seemingly loose in his fingers.

"No funny business?" She pouted at that. "I'm so disappointed in you." Carmen took his proffered arm and they strolled deeper into the woods. Charlie lightly flicked his wand and the fire behind them was quickly extinguished.

"I saw that," she said. Charlie noticed she didn't seem very upset about it. So far, so good.

"So I can distract you from evil-doing, huh?" He said.

"For a while, but who says I can't tempt you away from good?" She replied. "Evil is power and sex and excitement, you know."

"I've seen evil," Charlie said darkly, frowning at his memories. "I've felt it and I've experienced it and it comes in all forms." He paused, swallowed his anger about his sister, then continued in a lighter tone. "And none of those forms sweet talk me. Besides, you remind me of my mother when she's angry." He gave her a big winning smile.

At this Carmen burst into laughter. "You, Charlie, are a piece of work! You invite me back to your tent for our first date and then let me know I remind you of your mother. You are smooth." she switched tactics and tone abruptly. "Do you know why I haven't struck you down?"

"Obviously my winning personality," Charlie said drolly. He stopped, grabbed her arms and stared in her dark eyes. The dragon in Carmen was rearing her head, deciding whether to trust him or eat him. No amount of wand magic would help him now.

Carmen leaned in and kissed him. Charlie felt the magic swirl around them as he pulled her closer in, tasting her sweet and savory lips and inhaling her earthy, slightly burnt aroma. He desperately wanted more but pulled away from her. She couldn't curse him into submission, but she had other tricks up her sleeve and he needed to keep as much control as possible. Carmen kept her eyes closed and licked her lips. The dragon trusted him. Well, trusted him as much as anyone could trust a human, which, in Charlie's experience, was not much.

"You don't want my power, do you?" Carmen opened her eyes, threaded her arm in his and they started walking again. "You have anger buried deep inside. You act like you know who you are, so you don't need anything else."

"I need my family, and need nature," Charlie protested, "And I would like someone to grow old with. Haven't found a human yet, only magical creatures."

"How about a half-human, half-something or another creäture? I need to do my job, but it's expected I have some fun while doing it," Carmen replied. "So take me to your tent." And Charlie did.

Thus followed the most intense period of Charlie's life. In letters to his brother and friends, Carmen quickly became a 'work friend' who had he was very quickly teased about. Carmen's passion for him exceeded his own for her, and she was superior to him, magic-wise. They quickly compromised on their assigned work tasks, or at least that's how Charlie justified it in his head. The Chinese Fireballs ran freely and set fire to whatever they could, and the two of them quickly set up a perimeter in the forest, safe from wizards and muggles alike. At night, Carmen played the devils advocate to perfection, challenging him on every topic under the stars and then some more. He liked the way she 'solved' arguments too.

One morning they sat still under a huge tree, watching from a distance as a mother nursed her young hatchling. Tiny sparks showered around the family, as the mewing of the babies provided soft background noise. Much of the forest was quiet. Charlie had noticed early in their relationship that the sounds of the forest disappeared when Carmen showed up. He figured all the wonders of the earth wanted to hide in her presence. His soul was intact, he didn't notice the color of his eyes mimicking the color of his hair, but he half-wondered if he should hide, too.

Rumbling around them suddenly disturbed the area. At first Charlie thought it was an earthquake, but then he heard the mechanical hiss of modern Muggle machinery. He hopped up, grabbed Carmen by the hand and jogged toward the sound. The mother Fireball had swung her head in the same direction, but Charlie knew her hesitation at leaving her nest. He was the son of Molly Weasley, after all. She was always near her babies, no matter how big they got or how little they wanted the attention. The army of men and machinery were demolishing the forest. The beautiful forest, home to magnificent creatures of all types, being destroyed!

"Is this your work?" Charlie yelled at Carmen, running as he cast any charm he could think of to stop the Muggle bulldozers, which were impervious to his efforts. The nesting mother was too close for comfort, and he wanted neither human nor beast injured, which was looking more and more likely.

"No!" Carmen yelled back, on his heels. A whisper crossed her lips, and a puzzled look crossed her face. "It's not the work of any devils. The human is half-crazed with power. He has some sort of magic on his side. That's why nothing you cast works." She pointed to a man behind the line of bulldozers. He was well dressed in comparison to the workers who surrounded him and directed the machines. Surrounded by henchmen with no visible wands, the man and his companions radiated obvious power around them.

"We have to stop him before he reaches the nest." Charlie flung stunning spells at the machines. Behind the machines were acres of fresh downed timber. Other Muggles, armed with torches, set fire to the fallen trees. Charlie felt a surge of anger. Nothing was working! Helplessness filled him, quickly followed by his own demons, buried after so many years of repression, the ones that had followed him from the Floo call telling him of Ginny's death, burst out. The curses leaving his wand doubled in intensity.

"If we stop them from reaching the dragons," Carmen paused, noticing his rising fury. "He will try to hurt us." Her mouth was open, like she was panting. She seemed strangely excited.

"I can deal with that later!" he told her. The futility he felt when with Ginny's possession, or with the murder of his uncles, reared its ugly head. "Ready?" he yelled to Carmen.

She nodded. Charlie had righteous fury behind his magic, but Carmen had real power. Magic radiated from her fingertips and his wand as the bulldozers disappeared, the people operating them mindlessly began walking back toward Muggle civilization. Magic reverberated back in their direction. Flashes of light and blazes of color burst around them as the trees began to smolder. Charlie threw up shields around them, but Carmen shrugged them off. He then concentrated on protecting himself and the dragons and the forest, extinguishing the flames.

The well dressed man and his league of protection gave as good as they got, advancing as far as Charlie's shields. Sweat poured down his brow and his arm ached from the reverberations of the shield. Thankfully, Carmen was more powerful and Charlie had never seen her more radiant. She was smiling! In a matter of minutes, the forest was eerily silent again. Their enemy had given up and disappeared, for now. Charlie looked at his wand. Waves of emotion crashed over him, most of them sour in his mouth. He had thrown every curse, jinx and even a few Unforgivable Curses at their enemy. The nesting mother and her babies were safe. But not those poor people just doing their jobs. Was he? Would he have actually killed someone? Who was he to fight on the same side as a devil? Charlie noticed Carmen had made no effort to help the burnt forest heal. The more vicious the fighting, the happier she became. His stomach began to feel queasy.

"I put an Imperius on all those people, didn't I?" Charlie sat down, head in his hands, leaning against a tree. "All those workers won't remember what happened, or why they walked away, but I will." He looked at Carmen. "I let my anger overtake me, and look where it got me." He didn't understand how Death Eaters could live with the consequences of their deadly decisions. Remorse filled him.

Carmen pulled him up to standing. "C'mon, Charlie, let's go to bed." She looked satiated, as if she had a meal at a five-star restaurant. A polarizing thought struck Charlie as he held her hand, stumbling after her. Was this Carmen's true job, tempting him? Well, she had accomplished what she set out to do. Tempted him and gave him power and he had used it for worse. But he felt remorse, and knew it was time for her to go. Better the demons he knew, the ones buried deep in him, then the devil he didn't know, although her place was closer to his heart. He let go of her hand as they neared his tent.

He resisted her efforts to pull him into the tent and into bed. She sighed, then gave him one last passionate kiss and left his side. He stared at her, half-dazed and half dreading what was to come next. Would this dragon rear her head and eat him alive? Carmen paused at the entrance. Her red hair swirled around her and she looked magnificent. Thankfully, he saw the devil who had very nearly stolen his heart.

"Try not to be too good, Charlie Weasley," she said with a grin and a wink. "I'll see you in hell." Carmen then took her leave of the forest and his life.

He sat still, in the sudden cool of the night, missing her heat and her fire. He felt huge pangs of remorse over the construction workers. They looked like Inferi leaving the forest. He had caused that. The sounds of the woods came rushing back, the calls of the birds and the rustle of the leaves filling his ears. The wildlife wouldn't have to tread quietly any more. Except maybe around him.

Charlie contacted the local wizards in the area to help finish the dragon preserve and give them a heads up about the developer and his magical assistants. He ventured as close to the muggles he cursed as possible, trying to figure out how he could atone, how they could survive without destroying the forest. Unfortunately, for them to survive it meant other things had to die. In this case he envied Carmen. It was so much easier being wrong.

The next few days, Charlie finished his work, wished the Chinese wizards well and said goodbye to the Fireballs, at a distance, all in a fog. He took his designated Portkey back to Romania, and rejoined his fellow dragon keepers. He declined all invitations to the pub, claiming jet lag and an inability to stay warm. Only the dragons could make him smile.

Three weeks after his return from Wuhan, his ears picked up hearing wolf whistles in the distance, ruining his quiet night with the tea kettle. He ran to the door, hoping to see Carmen, hoping her dirty deeds sent her to Central Europe and back to his arms. He wanted her, and he wanted to explain, and he wanted absolution. A devil would never give him absolution. Even though his head knew better, his heart and his face fell, but quickly recovered, upon seeing the beautiful visage of Sonia.

Sonia, ever keen to his every move, saw his quick recovery, gave him a hug and went into his tent. Charlie saw Sonia look around and see the unkempt flat, the dishes piled up and the dust hanging heavy in the air. After some quick pleasantries, he retreated back to his sofa and tea.

"Spill it, Weasley," she ordered, following him and flopping next to him. "All Nikita and I know is that you left for China, where you send happy, almost delirious letters about Chinese Fireballs and a co-worker, then nada. No dragon left you in this condition. Speak, or I'm bringing in the big guns."

Charlie halfheartedly glared at her, then spoke softly. "There was this girl, well, she was in the guise of a girl, and she was phenomenal. But it wasn't a long-term relationship thing. Didn't end so well."

"And why wasn't it? She didn't love dragons enough? She didn't like the concept of you having girl best friends? She met Fred and George? You were, um, incompatible in certain areas?" Sonia's cheeks grew almost Weasley red with the last suggestion.

"No, she likes dragons, we didn't talk much about you and Nikita, I'm sure she is very proud of my younger brothers, and everything about her was passion and fire and hot like a devil, okay," he told her, exasperated. "I'm fine, really."

"You don't look fine," she replied. He heard her mutter, "Really, fine" under her breath. And then with a hint of Carmen in her, Sonia strode over to the fire, grabbed some Floo powder from the case, threw it into the fire, and called out, "The Burrow!"

She stuck her head in the fireplace. "Mrs. Weasley?"

Charlie heard his mother's name and jumped up from the sofa, waving his arms wildly to stop the call. Sonia turned, triumphant, to give him a pointed 'I told you so' look, and returned to the fire.

"Mrs. Weasley, it's Sonia Mayfield, Charlie's friend, from Hogwarts. How are you?"

"Hello, dear!" Mrs. Wesley's voice boomed into Charlie's small bedroom. "How are you?"

"I'm good, thank you." Sonia nodded, then rushed in. "Nikita and I are a bit worried about Charlie, he seems a bit down after his trip to China, and before I left, I wanted to make sure he was in good hands. Maybe you and Mr. Weasley could come visit at some point?"

At this point, Charlie dearly wished for Carmen at his side, first to hex Sonia to hell, then potentially some other interesting things with him, anger and power and temptation not withstanding.

"Is something the matter with Charlie, Sonia?" Asked his mother. Charlie could hear the panic rising in her voice.

"Nothing that a mum and dad couldn't fix, I'm sure," she replied. "Here's Charlie," she said as she grabbed his arm.

"Hi Mum," he said. "See, I'm fine," waving his hands in the air. "Nothing's been burnt to a crisp, yet." Now he felt waves of skepticism emanate from the fireplace. "If you and Dad could make it out again, I would enjoy it," he asked politely.

His mum beamed at him. "Of course, dear! We would love to visit. Not over the holidays, but soon. I will talk to your father."

Charlie, despite himself, grinned. "I would love it." Sonia poked him with her elbow, knowing way too much about him for her own good. He elbowed back. "I love you, Mum."

"I love you too, Charlie. Good night, Sonia," his mum replied. The fire flickered out and he sat heavily on the couch.

Sonia rejoined him on the sofa, flicked her wand and handed him a fresh steaming cup of tea. "So, when you say hot like a devil, all I'm going to ask was what the devil looked like, nothing more."

"She was a devil, not the devil," he replied. "I called her Carmen, she's gorgeous, and she was responsible for mayhem and madness."

"So she knows Fred and George then?" Sonia asked with a laugh.

Charlie grinned. "No, but they impressed her with their work." He took a sip of tea, knowing he and Sonia would be talking late into the night. He paused and listened. The birds tweeted happily outside and creatures scampered around. He hoped the sounds stayed. He frowned. "she said her job was to destroy the forest, but I'm afraid it was really to destroy me. I was so angry about what happened to my sister, and every other stupid little thing I couldn't get a handle on, and she used it. I hurt people. Even worse, I still crave her."

"You're here, aren't you?" Sonia asked, taking his hand. "You regret whatever you did, right?" Charlie nodded. "You made amends?"

"As best I could, which wasn't much." Charlie studied his wand once again. No Unforgivable Curses had crossed his lips since that fateful day in the forest, and wouldn't for now.

"So you are human, like the rest of us. Just because you work with dragons and date devils doesn't make you infallible."

"I like to pretend I am. It's easier to pretend perfection and not need anyone." Charlie smiled bitterly. His love of independence and self-sufficiency scared off almost everyone but the woman in front of him being a rare exception.

"I know, Charlie. I know."


End file.
